Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Freshmen move-in at UIS goes smoothly

It's been a flurry of activity as construction has been wrapping up on Founders Hall that all culminated in a day of frenzy during freshmen move-in at UIS on Wednesday, August 20. But despite so much activity, everything progressed smoothly as the campus came back to life after the summer months.

"If there are relatively few problems, to me it's a great move in day," laughed John Ringle, director of housing.

This year brings an all-time record size class of about 312 freshmen, with 170 moving in to both Lincoln Residence Hall and Founders Hall. The construction on Founders is still finishing up, but freshmen were able to move right in and make it home on Wednesday.

"It's ready in the sense that there's work going to be going on around people after they move in, so it's still a work in progress. But it's the type of work they can do with students in building, and it won't compromise their safety and security," Ringle said. "It was touch and go for while in terms of finding out whether or not we were going to have the building in a state where people could move in, but all came together. It's good that we've got good builders and contractors who have been putting in extra hours to make sure our students were accommodated today."

This year is the first time in two years that the honors community - freshmen and upperclassmen alike - is able to be housed together in LRH thanks to the opening of Founders Hall, Ringle said. While Wednesday was move-in day for freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors will move back to campus on Friday to either the residence halls, apartments or townhouses.

Ringle said he and the rest of the housing office is optimistic about the upcoming school year.

"It snuck up on us, even though we've been planning for it all summer and anticipating that students were arriving today," he said. "We're looking forward to great year. It's going to be very key to see how all of new residents coming into Founders are going to set tone and history for Founders. After all, you only get to move in to a new building once."